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Flourish Festival

The Health Promotion Office is hosting its annual Flourish Festival on Friday, March 22nd. This full-day event will provide students with a variety of wellness and mindfulness activities to engage in!

Drop by during the day for programs to help you flourish! We have a variety of offerings including: yoga, Qigong, guided meditations, pet therapy, VR mindfulness, a wellness fair, mindful eating pop-up and more. Join any of these activities to embrace mindful well-being on campus!

Students who check in to 4 or more events at the Festival will be entered into win one of three raffle prizes! Here are the raffle prizes that you could win:

  • 1stPrize: A Fitbit Inspire 2, a Journal, Dead Sea Mud Mask, and a HPO t-shirt
  • 2ndPrize: An Essential Oil Set, Self-Care Journal, a Happy Light, and Gaiam Yoga Mat
  • 3rdPrize: A Mindfulness Coloring Book, a Self-Care Journal, and an Iron Flask Water bottle

Line Up of Events

Qi Gong

This class will offer the skills and philosophies of Qigong, an ancient system of traditional Chinese medicine that uses the body, mind and breath to improve mental and physical health. Come learn some deep self-care, held from 10 – 11 AM in the Goergen Athletic Center. You can register here, but walk-ins are also welcome.

Calming U with Debra

Embrace a calmer, more focused, and growth-oriented mindset to conquer academic challenges and flourish throughout your college journey. This workshop, tailored to University of Rochester students, can be enjoyed from the comfort of your home via Zoom from 10:30 AM – 11:45 AM.

This workshop is the first session of a four-week series. Drop in to see what it’s like! By attending all four sessions, you will receive a giveaway of your choosing: The Mindful Self-Compassion Workbook, a meditation cushion, or a yoga mat. Register here to secure your spot.

Labyrinth Walk

A labyrinth is a walking meditation, an ancient geometric pattern that over hundreds of years has become an archetype of change, transformation, and wholeness. Walking the labyrinth is a spiritual practice that can enrich the lives of our students, faculty, and staff as they have the opportunity to spend some time in the reflective quiet of the labyrinth. Walking the labyrinth can help you find clarity of mind and heart, release tension and mind clutter, and find your spiritual center out of which to return to your work and vocations energized and centered.

Stop by to experience the Labyrinth! The Interfaith Chapel’s labyrinth will be available at the Flourish Festival from 11 AM – 3:00 PM in the Leibner-Cooper Room at the Goergen Athletic Center for you to experience yourself!

Two students smiling at one another while interacting with a miniature Zen garden in the Wellness Oasis in the Welles-Brown Room.

Wellness Oasis

12 – 2 p.m. | Welles-Brown Room

The Health Promotion Office invites you to relax and take a well-deserved break at the Wellness Oasis during the Flourish Festival. Join us for some stress-relieving activities, such as virtual reality mindfulness, arts and crafts, puzzles, and more! Free HPO goodies such as lavender sachets, quote cards, and more will be available (as supplies last).

Mental Health Screenings with UCC

Come drop by the Hawkins-Carlson Room from 12 – 2 PM to get a mental health screening! Stop by the screening tables to pick up a form, then meet with a UCC staff member who can help you see if you are at risk for depression and anxiety and, if appropriate, offer suitable recommendations to help. You can also learn self-care practices to help you thrive. Hosted by the University Counseling Center and UHS Health Promotion Office.

Mindful Eating Pop-Up

Do you sometimes find yourself after a meal forgetting that you just ate, eat while working or on the go, or experience some digestive issues? Eating mindfully can be hard as a college student. Join us for a mindful eating pop-up tabling event from 1 PM – 2 PM outside of Douglass Dining Hall to learn short and simple ways you can engage in mindful eating daily with the Health Promotion Office and Dining Services Team! Students can come to enjoy food samples and coffee, learn about the practice of mindful eating and its benefits, as well as have the opportunity to practice!

NARCAN Training and Harm Reduction Workshop

College is a time of self-discovery and independence. For many folks that means the exploration of alcohol and other drugs. In this session, peer advocates from Strong Recovery will teach participants to administer NARCAN in the event of a suspected opioid overdose. Then, participants will learn from Danielle D’Onofrio, the Assistant Director of Alcohol and Other Drug Education, about safer alcohol and cannabis use practices. We will concentrate on risk reduction, what barriers students face when trying to use these strategies, and how students can navigate obstacles of using these risk reduction strategies. This workshop will be held in the Gowen Room from 1 – 2 PMRegister on CCC to save your spot!

Pet Therapy

Come pet some therapy dogs at the Flourish Festival with the Health Promotion Office! Therapy dogs will be in the Goergen Athletic Center Lobby from 1:30-3:00 PM to help you de-stress, give you a serotonin boost, as well as leave with stress-relieving giveaways such as lavender sachets, quote cards to hang up in your dorm, and learn about upcoming events!

Two students visiting a table with two individuals at the Wellness Fair

Wellness Fair

3 – 4:30 p.m. | Hirst Lounge

Stop by the Wellness Fair to learn about the many resources and organizations on and off-campus that you can use to support your well-being! These will also be free giveaways and fun interactive activities!

Yoga Class

Join us for Flow & Restore Yoga, where you will be guided by Krista from YogaVibe. Form & Flow is a class that will meet you where you are, regardless of experience with yoga. Students can expect a medium paced flow coupled with time spent creating distinct shapes. This class is intended as an efficient overview of yoga fundamentals as well as an exploration of the intricacies of those fundamentals.

This class is suitable for all levels and prior yoga experience is not required. The session will be offered from 4:30 – 5:30 PM in the Leibner-Cooper Room at the Goergen Athletic Center. You can register here, or you can drop in.

Mindfulness Sessions

End your week refreshed with a dose of mindfulness! From 5 – 6 PM in the Welles-Brown Room, there will be four, 10-minute mindfulness sessions that you can join led by Mindful University Project Student Mindfulness Facilitators.

Barre Fitness

Barre is a fitness technique that incorporates elements of ballet, yoga, and Pilates. Inspired by dance, it focuses on cardio, strength, and stretching, rather than perfect dance technique. Enjoy a unique way to engage your physical senses from 6 – 7 PM in the Leibner-Cooper Room at the Goergen Athletic Center. You can register here, or you can drop in.

Wellness Book Collection Highlight

The Health Promotion Office and River Campus Libraries have partnered up to showcase the many books available to you at the library centered on supporting student well-being that will be displayed in-person in Lam Square and the Welles-Brown Room, as well as online! See their list of titles on display that you can check out! The collection will be available in-person the entire month of March.

Close up of a person using a meditation sound bowl.

Sound Bath

From 7:30 – 8 PM in the Leibner-Cooper Room at the Goergen Athletic Center, you can relax with a “bath” of soothing sounds led by Sean Mulligan, a performing arts medicine practitioner and teaching artist professional. Rhythm has been proven to play a key role in motor skill development, memory, and mood regulation; harmony is how we relate to ourselves and others; voice and melody, they are our culture and identity.

A sound bath offers an opportunity for participants to receive sound in an intentional and collaborative setting, with the shared goal of the practitioner to organize a sonic environment conducive for relaxation, self-reflection, group synchronization, and interpersonal attunement.

*While a sound bath offers participants the opportunity to relate to music and sound in various therapeutic ways, it alone should not be mistaken for music therapy, where music is used in a more specifically clinical sense, unless used for a specific intervention by a licensed therapist. Sign up here.

Co-Sponsors

Wilson Commons Student Activities, URSHAC, the Goergen Athletic Center, River Campus Libraries, Office of the Dean of Students, the Interfaith Chapel, Active Minds, UR SUPHS, Yoga Club, The Buddhist Student Association, International Students Association, Gamma Phi Beta, Chi Omega, OutGRADS, Warner Chi Sigma Iota, Graduate Women in Science, and Alpha Phi.